Rihanna Sits on the Mouth of a Shark for Harper's Bazaar

Rihanna lived up to her name in a new
photo shoot for Harper's Bazaar magazine
where she bravely swam with some
sharks. The 26-year-old is seen modeling a variety
of swimwear for the March issue, with one
image in particular showing her reclining in
the mouth of a fake great white shark.
Here are some excerpts from the
magazine's accompanying interview below; LAURA BROWN: Swimming with sharks is not only scary, it's a big metaphor. How
did you learn to swim with the sharks of
life? RIHANNA: I try my best to avoid the sharks of life, but I have had my share of
experiences with them, and in those cases I
just have to handle them accordingly. But I
do not swim with sharks … sharks swim
with sharks. LB: Did you watch Jaws as a kid? Did it scare you or thrill you? R: Both! It freaked me out because I was a beach baby, so every time a new Jaws
came out I would take months off from the
beach or just sit on the sand. If I happened
to get in the water, my dad would hum the
theme music, and I was right back out of it.
But that was really my fault because I was obsessed with Jaws. Steven Spielberg was
my childhood hero. LB: Would you say you're adventurous? What is the greatest adventure you've
been on, and what would you like to do? R: Greatest adventure? Are you kidding me? I just did a photo shoot in the midst of
sharks. It's going to be pretty hard to
beat that. LB: You are fearless with your style, but in what ways are you fearless in life? R: I think I'm like most people—we fear the unknown and the things that have yet
to come to pass, which are the very things
that don't deserve to be feared. When
you give God complete control, it's very
hard not to be fearless. LB: Being famous for a decade now, you would have had to develop a thick skin. In
what ways are you tough, and in what
ways are you sensitive? R: This skin has been developing since my first day at school. It didn't happen after
fame; I couldn't survive fame if I didn't
already have it. So sometimes the toughest
thing in life is to be vulnerable. I'm not
generally a sensitive person, but I tend to
be more sensitive toward others and what they're going through. I don't know if
that's the healthiest thing, but it's the
truth. Greatest adventure? Are you kidding me? I
just did a photo shoot in the midst of
sharks. It's going to be pretty hard to
beat that. LB: You're about to release a new album. How ambitious are you, having achieved so
much? Are you competitive at all? R: I am very ambitious! It's ridiculous how much I want to put on my plate, which
is already full. I am sensitive to what my
team is going through. Actually I'm lying.
They get no sympathy … we love what we
do!